Brazilian wandering spider

noun

: any of a genus (Phoneutria) of large, venomous, nocturnal spiders of tropical South America that do not build webs and actively hunt prey by traveling on the ground

Note: Brazilian wandering spiders adopt a characteristic aggressive defense posture in which their front legs are raised straight up into the air.

Along the way we meet some scary hairies, among them a Brazilian wandering spider, the most dangerous spider in the world, we're told, with venom 18 times as potent as a black widow's …

—Chip Crews, Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2006

called also banana spider

Word History

First Known Use

1995, in the meaning defined above

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